


the pain is only temporary

by zero_point



Series: the visitor suffers [1]
Category: Fortnite (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Gen, I just wanna whump the Visitor man, Lowercase, Not Canon Compliant, Physical Abuse, Robots, Stream of Consciousness, Threats of Violence, Whump, not edited, robot abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23832694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zero_point/pseuds/zero_point
Summary: he was not meant to be a part of the mission. an accident waiting to happen. the paradigm despises him for what he is. she's going to make sure he knows that.
Series: the visitor suffers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1984379
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	the pain is only temporary

" _ what did you do to me?" _ the visitor clutched his head. there was pain there. a dull, aching sensation he had  _ never _ felt before. he could feel that there were wires, like tendons, strung throughout his body. every one of their movements, every click, every time an internal sensor went off - the visitor could feel it. it wasn't right.

"you were built with sensitivity modules. but they weren't enabled - isn't that strange?" the paradigm was thoroughly enjoying the show being put on for her. her helmet rested under her arm; leaving the visitor under the cruel judgement of her cold red eyes.

he found himself hating the tone of her voice. like she was talking to a hurt puppy.

she took a step towards him. without meaning to, the visitor flinched - and a tiny smile spread across the paradigm's lips.

stress. dread. anxiety. helplessness.

fear.

scared. why was he scared? of  _ her? _ what did he have to fear from  _ her? _

he’d thought he’d been afraid before. but why was it all so much worse now that he could feel  _ everything _ ?

"i don't like this." the visitor tried to back himself further against the wall. "disable them." as if she was going to listen to  _ him _ , of all people.

"you never  _ had _ them enabled, did you? you've never felt pain before." it was a statement, not a question. she was within arms-length of him now. “to think you learned to mimic emotion, but you’ve never felt pain.”

“paradigm,” the visitor, still wary of the ever-closing gap between them, slowly began to stand. his hands shook -  _ why am i shaking? - _ but he clenched his fists, trying to hide his  _ fear _ from the paradigm. “we have  _ more important  _ things to do than to-”

her helmet collided with the side of the visitor’s head. a sickening crack split through his ‘skull,’ and he fell to the floor again.

searing, white-hot pain consumed him. over the deafening sound of alarms yelling at him -  **_systems damaged, seek maintenance_ ** \- the visitor could barely hear himself scream.

“that was an  _ impressive  _ sound. i didn’t think you could yell like that.”

the visitor held his head. lines, like an old television, skewed his view. and a cruel crack splintered his sight; black lines traced around it, threatening to spread across his field of view like tendrils. he let out another soft cry.

he was lucky he hadn’t gone blind.

“volta, why don’t you lend a hand?”

the visitor had almost forgotten he was there. he was a robot, too - why was the paradigm only hurting  _ him _ like this?

he immediately put his hands up and took a step back, despite the fact he was already behind the paradigm. “oh, i..”

“this hunk of scrap metal isn’t one of us, don’t you agree?”

the scientist looked to the visitor. the red symbol on his visor doesn’t waver. after a moment, he replies. “no. he isn’t.”

“help me make sure he knows that.”

despite being called, ‘the scientist,’ he was… he was  _ big _ . bulky.  _ scary _ .

‘fear’ had been nothing when the visitor hadn’t been able to feel pain. now he was terrified to find out what kind of strength was running through the scientist’s circuits and wires.

“don’t.” the visitor choked out. “ _ don’t _ touch me or else i’ll-”

the scientist took a step forward, and the visitor went silent

“is this.. necessary, mara? i’m sure he knows…”

“i understand you’re apprehensive about harming him - but you know it as well as he should. any pain he feels isn’t real. don’t feel bad.”

“.. right. of course.”

the scientist squatted by the visitor’s side. he grabbed his head, studying the cracked visor. the visitor didn’t resist. the scientist could crush his head like a soda can if he wanted to.

“so fragile.” the scientist tilted his head to the side. he traced his fingers town the side of the visitor’s head, down to his neck.. then wrapped his hand around him and lifted him off the ground.

the visitor clawed uselessly at the scientist’s arm, shaking it, just  _ trying _ to loosen his grip- fuck, if he squeezed too hard, everything would go black.

.. and the visitor wasn’t ready to die yet.

“volta,  _ please _ , you don’t have to  _ listen _ to her-” the visitor grabbed the scientist’s arm, squeezing. not like it was going to do anything.

“i mean no offense,” the scientist grabbed the visitor’s wrist, forcing it away. “but i don’t want to end up like you.”

he tried to grab at him again. the scientist’s hold grew tighter. a dull ache stabbed at the visitor’s wrist. 

_ no no no no STOP- _

circuits and metal plating crunched under the scientist’s grip. hot, sharp pain shot up the visitor’s arm - and entire his forearm suddenly went limp.

“don’t try anything. i don’t want to have to hurt you more than you need to be.” the scientist looked up, towards the paradigm. she nodded slightly, and the scientist placed the visitor back down.

“what’s the  _ point _ ?” the visitor cradled his hand, wincing as sparks of electricity ran up between his useless fingers. "you can't even  _ kill  _ me. i'm too-"

the paradigm hit him with her helmet again. shards of glass from his visor chipped off, scattering on the floor in front of him as he collapsed. he felt something in his chest crack, and wailed from the pain.

"s-s-s-ssst-" his vocal synthesizers stuttered. for a moment, he found himself physically unable to speak. the inside of his chest flickered and sparked, trying to kick itself into working again.

is this what humans felt when they got injured? is this what those scientists back at the crater felt when he’d torn through their flesh and watched as they-

"everything your feeling now isn't real - you know that, right? you're a machine. machines can't feel pain." the paradigm turned to the scientist. "right, volta?"

everything was all growing staticy. the paradigm and her smug smile flickered in and out of view.

"yes, mara." the scientist replied. he bore no dents. no cracks. he looked as well-built as he had on the day he was activated. had the paradigm broken him down, too, then repaired him? or had he always been this..  _ submissive  _ towards organic life forms?

he was so much bigger than her. it would take nothing for the scientist to swat her away and put an end to the torment - why didn’t he?  _ all it would take is one well-timed hit... _

"you're nothing more than a series of ones and zeros. easily removed, altered, and copied." the paradigm knelt beside him, cradling one side of his head in her hand. she lifted it up so he had no other choice but to look at her. "why do you think you're more important than that?"

"t-t-t-the zero p-p-point-"

the satisfied look on the paradigm's face turned sour. "don't speak to me about the mission i was trained for for years.  _ you _ don't belong here.  _ you _ are the amalgam of spare parts masquerading as  _ important _ . you don't even have a  _ name _ .” the paradigm stood again, turning away from the visitor. she held her wrist up and clicked something - a hologram of a map of athena appeared in front of her. nonchalantly, still focused on the map, she waved her hand towards the scientist. “put him by one of the power panels and plug him in.”

".. shall i disable his sensory processors?"

"no," the paradigm pursed her lips, tapping something else on her wrist to turn the projection off. "leave him on."

_ no no no no no no no-- _

"we have some time before he's  _ 'required' _ for our mission. a few weeks, at least." she slowly, carefully, undid her updo, then combed her fingers through her sleek, brown-black hair. a smug smile appeared on her lips. "i’ve only just started with him.”

“of course.” the visitor couldn’t detect any hesitation in the scientist’s voice.

the scientist approached him, and without any care or comfort, hoisted the visitor into his arms. more sparks fizzled around his joints, and he couldn’t help the yelp he made at the sudden shift.

alerts and warnings screamed at him in the back of his head.

**A UDI0 COM 9UT 4TI 0N UN1T . . . . . MAL FUNCT1O N1N G**

**V I SU4L PR OC3 SSORS . . . . . . . . . . M ALFUNC TI0N ING**

**SE NS0R Y P ROCESS 0RS . . . . . . . . OVE RL0A D3 D**

**V1 TAL SYSTE MS DAMAG3 D --- SHU TDOWN IMM1 NENT --- S33K MAIN 7ENANCE 1 MM3 DIA TE LY**

"volt-t-t-t-a." static singed his vision as the scientist turned to look at him. every time something in his view shifted, his whole head spun, and he felt as though his body was going to give out at any moment. "h-h-hh-help... me.. pl-l-l-l-lease..."

"i'm sorry." the scientist whispered. it was hard to tell through his blurred vision, but the visitor swore he could see pity through the scientist's visor.

even through the pain, the visitor could feel anger burning through his circuits.  _ your pity is worthless - help me! _

he could hardly vocalize his thoughts in a coherent manner, let alone say what he truly meant. "don't wa-a-a-an't pi-i-i-i-ity.. help-p-p-p-p…."

“i can’t do that.”   
  
the visitor wheezed. a rush of hot air blew from the vents under his metal plating. the fans whirring beneath his ‘skin’ were deafening. he’d never overheated like this before.   
  
when he tried to speak again, no words came through, only glitched inflections and static.

the scientist walked the visitor across the room to the power panel mara had directed him to. he was set down on the cold, hard floor. the scientist grabbed a piece of metal plating just below the back of the visitor’s neck, prying it off with ease and exposing some more sensitive outlets.

a cable was shoved into the visitor’s back - and he felt a rush of shiver-cold sparks speed through his body. while on any other occasion being plugged in like this would have felt good, now it only amplified his pain. a release from his suffering was all the visitor wanted - and now that plug was the only thing keeping him from a relieving end.   
  
“i am sorry,” the scientist murmured, “.. truly.”

_ as if that makes a difference _ .

  
  



End file.
